GROTON -- It's a humid July evening and Henry Bunis is getting his tennis fix by knocking the ball around with his Brandeis College-bound son Ryan at a court on the campus of Groton School.

The two play together on almost a daily basis, or as Henry puts it, "whenever Ryan wants to play."

An army of relentless mosquitoes infests this woodsy area, so Henry and Ryan find themselves using their rackets as fly swatters almost as much as they use them to return a shot. Bug spray is a must. The matches would hardly be classified as intense. It's more about a father and son getting in some exercise, and Ryan looking to stay sharp before continuing his tennis career at Brandeis.

Henry is a former professional tennis player. In 1976 he was ranked as one of the top 100 players in the world. He played in four U.S. Opens, and twice at both Wimbledon and the French Open. He competed against all-time greats like Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe and Bjorn Borg. He made his residence in Los Angeles and toured the world, playing in Australia, Europe and Asia.

Then he got burnt out.

"I had gotten a little tired of it, and I figured I would use my education for something else," said the 60-year-old Bunis, now a Groton resident. "I was away from the game for a long time. I really had no interest. Tennis was all I did.

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I didn't like losing, and unless you're the best guy in the world, you lose every week. I just got sick of it.

"Initially it was hard to watch tennis after I stopped playing. I beat guys that were getting to the semis and the quarters in tournaments, and I started thinking maybe I should've kept playing. Over time you start getting excited about watching again. New players come on and the game evolves. So your attitude has to evolve."

Bunis enjoyed a brilliant high school career in Cincinnati, and went on to become a two-time All-American at Columbia University, where he majored in art history. Almost immediately after retiring in 1978, he put his Ivy League education to good use and took a job on Wall Street working for JP Morgan. He got his law degree from New York Law School in 1992.

Bunis, now retired, has lived in Groton for 14 years with his wife Dianne and sons Ryan and Evan -- who will be a senior at Groton-Dunstable High in the fall.

Ryan was a Sun All-Star tennis player at Groton-Dunstable High before graduating last spring. His involvement in the sport helped Henry rediscover his own interest.

"At first I feel like I didn't appreciate having my dad to help me as much as I should've," said Ryan. "But now that I'm taking my tennis seriously, I know a lot of players don't have a coach that played professionally and knows how hard you have to work."

Henry says he has no regrets about retiring from pro tennis at the age of 25. He departed with a career record of 28-58. He was 3-7 in Grand Slam events.

"I feel like I could've played longer. I was getting better," said Henry. "But I also didn't want to be interviewing for a job at age 30. My results would've gotten better. But If I had been ranked 40th instead of 90th, who cares? I didn't think it was worth sacrificing another four or five years of my life.

"The money was OK but it wasn't fantastic. I couldn't have retired on it. The lifestyle was difficult. You miss being home. I didn't like being on tour for really long stretches. I would come back to L.A. to practice when other guys would stay on tour, and that probably affected my results."

Henry is one of the best kept secrets in the local sports world. Who else in the area can claim that they played Wimbledon?

In 1977 in Little Rock, Ark., he nearly upset Borg in his only professional match against the former world No. 1 and 11-time Grand Slam champ. Henry lost 7-6, 5-7, 6-2. At that time, the attendance of 3,500 was the largest crowd ever to watch a pro tennis match in Arkansas.

He frequently practiced with Borg and Connors.

"Connors was a very aggressive personality and a great athlete," said Henry. "He was a little bit unconventional. He hit the ball very flat. He was very smart, didn't give anything away, and was very rugged. He was sort of like the Pete Rose of tennis. He was a fun guy to be around, like you'd imagine he would be."

Henry still has his old press clippings, and keeps a framed photo of himself playing at Wimbledon as a reminder of that past life. He still remembers those wooden racket days vividly, even if it seems like an eternity ago.

"It's hard at first to start a new career. You sort of have to eat crow. You're starting all over. You're at the bottom," Henry said. "When you're done playing, people forget that you played. You evaporate pretty quickly. I think the sooner you move on, the better off you are."

Thanks in large part to his father Alvin Bunis, Henry developed a passion for tennis early. He began playing seriously at age eight in Cincinnati.

A dedicated amateur player, Alvin was the creator of the Tennis Grand Masters circuit for players over the age of 45. He began organizing tournaments in 1972, allowing legendary names in the professional ranks to continue their careers well past their primes.

Alvin died on Aug. 26, 2011.

"He was a hard-driven guy. He loved tennis," said Henry of his father. "He taught me with great detail and focus, and was pretty intense about it. Tennis was always there in a big way. He was a pretty aggressive guy, pretty tough. I resented that sometimes, but I grew to appreciate the focus I was getting. I was fortunate, but it took a while to realize that."

Henry made the most of the training from his father. He was the Ohio high school state champion in 1971.

The endless hours on the court paid off, but it also contributed to the demise of Henry's professional tennis career.

"My dad's inculcations obviously affected me because I quit playing after three years," Henry said. "In the back of my mind there was always that debate going on: how long should you be playing? I wanted to go on with the rest of my life."

Now with Ryan in the midst of a tennis career that will carry on into college, and Evan a standout golfer at G-D, Henry is trying to avoid placing added pressure on his own sons.

"I've gotten back into tennis, watching and learning how these guys are doing it now compared to how we did it," said Henry. "I try to do what I can and teach Ryan as much as I possibly can, but not go over the top. You have ups and downs and you have to deal with all of that. I try to balance it better than my dad did. I learned what not to do, which is an important thing."

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